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Neil Compton's Statement at U.S. House Hearing for the Creation of the Buffalo National River

THE OZARK SOCIETY
Conservation — Education — Recreation
STATEMENT BY DR. NEIL COMPTON, PRESIDENT OF THE OZARK SOCIETY,
IN BEHALF OF HOUSE BILLS 8332 HAMMERSCHMIDT AND 9119 ALEXANDER FOR THE
CREATION OF THE BUFFALO NATIONAL RIVER
28, OCTOBER, 1971
Congressman Taylor
Honorable members of the Subcommittee on Parks and Recreation
House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs
My name is Neil Compton. I am a doctor of medicine practicing in my
home town of Bentonville, Arkansas in which state I have resided since the
time of my birth and from whose schools and university I graduated with
my present professional qualifications.
I am at the present time and have been since its founding in May 1962
the president of the Ozark Society. This organization is a conservation
organization whose principal interest lies in the Ozark-Ouachita uplands
and the adjacent regions surrounding it. The Ozark Society was founded
because of the need for better recognition of the recreational and aesthetic
values of the Ozark uplands and for a means to defend their integrity against
the rapidly advancing technology of this age we live in. Our group was originally
founded because of the crisis arising on the Buffalo River in the late
1950s at which time its obliteration had been proposed by a large federal
agency by a series of high dams.
In order to better understand all factors in this controversy we have
established a permanent program for outdoor activities which affords great
pleasure to our membership inasmuch as we see and study first hand the
scenic beauty of the country in which we are so vitally interested. Having
understood its problems so well we have been able to defend it successfully
against the proposal for what we believe to have been needless flood control
and power projects. It is not necessary to repeat here the details of this
now latent controversy.
As an alternative it was suggested that the Buffalo River be included
in the National Park Service System as a National River to be maintained
in perpetuity for the enjoyment and pleasure of this and all suceeding
generations. I am sorry to say that having achieved a reprive [sic] from
drawdown reservoirs we are now faced with the fact that the Buffalo River
and its countryside are being destroyed rapidly in a piecemeal fashion by
various other human activities.
1

THE OZARK SOCIETY
Conservation — Education — Recreation
STATEMENT BY DR. NEIL COMPTON, PRESIDENT OF THE OZARK SOCIETY,
IN BEHALF OF HOUSE BILLS 8332 HAMMERSCHMIDT AND 9119 ALEXANDER FOR THE
CREATION OF THE BUFFALO NATIONAL RIVER
28, OCTOBER, 1971
Congressman Taylor
Honorable members of the Subcommittee on Parks and Recreation
House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs
My name is Neil Compton. I am a doctor of medicine practicing in my
home town of Bentonville, Arkansas in which state I have resided since the
time of my birth and from whose schools and university I graduated with
my present professional qualifications.
I am at the present time and have been since its founding in May 1962
the president of the Ozark Society. This organization is a conservation
organization whose principal interest lies in the Ozark-Ouachita uplands
and the adjacent regions surrounding it. The Ozark Society was founded
because of the need for better recognition of the recreational and aesthetic
values of the Ozark uplands and for a means to defend their integrity against
the rapidly advancing technology of this age we live in. Our group was originally
founded because of the crisis arising on the Buffalo River in the late
1950s at which time its obliteration had been proposed by a large federal
agency by a series of high dams.
In order to better understand all factors in this controversy we have
established a permanent program for outdoor activities which affords great
pleasure to our membership inasmuch as we see and study first hand the
scenic beauty of the country in which we are so vitally interested. Having
understood its problems so well we have been able to defend it successfully
against the proposal for what we believe to have been needless flood control
and power projects. It is not necessary to repeat here the details of this
now latent controversy.
As an alternative it was suggested that the Buffalo River be included
in the National Park Service System as a National River to be maintained
in perpetuity for the enjoyment and pleasure of this and all suceeding
generations. I am sorry to say that having achieved a reprive [sic] from
drawdown reservoirs we are now faced with the fact that the Buffalo River
and its countryside are being destroyed rapidly in a piecemeal fashion by
various other human activities.
1